Speculations
by JackieStarSister
Summary: Conjectures and scenarios I imagined for upcoming episodes. Chapter 1: When the Red Lotus threatens her friends, Korra makes a decision that will save their lives but destroy their trust in her. Chapter 2: A strange conversation between people who may or may not know each other. Canon relationships.
1. Lovely Betrayal

Author's Note: I don't usually write conjecture stories like this, imagining something that could happen in a future episode. I just thought of a couple scenes and wanted to write them out. If people like this I'll keep it up; if not, I might take it down. I imagined Asami and Korra trying to rescue Mako and Bolin from the Red Lotus, after they escape from the Earth Queen's forces. I don't plan to continue this, so following it may be pointless, but I would like to know what you readers think of it, so please review if you take the time to read!

* * *

To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved. ~ George MacDonald

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. ~ John 15:13

Korra knew what was coming—seeing Ming-Hua holding the brothers up in her water tentacles was just like watching Unalaq hold Jinora in the Spirit World. She knew the choice that was coming. And she would rather have faced the entire Red Lotus on her own, than have to forfeit to save her friends.

She heard Zaheer's threat, but it was distant, while the sight of them about to drown in midair was immediately before her. Mako tried to protest—of course he didn't want her to give in—before the water was pushed up over his mouth; but Bolin looked terrified, like he wanted to call out for her to help.

"All right!" Korra cut off Zaheer's coaxing, her voice was a blend of anger and desperation. "I'll go with you, I'll do what you want; just let them go!"

Ming-Hua looked to Zaheer, who nodded permission, before her water tentacles threw the boys onto the ground. Both of them groaned, the impact racking their already sore bodies. Asami rushed to them, trying to hug them without hurting them.

Korra wanted to do the same, but first she stepped closer to Zaheer, and spoke in a low voice. "I once made this deal with Unalaq, and he stabbed me in the back afterwards. If you're really better than him, you'll let them go free. I'll get them to leave; just give me a minute to say goodbye."

Asami was too busy checking the boys' injuries to watch the others. But Mako kept trying to glance past her. "Korra?"

She finally came over, kneeling on the ground with her friends. She touched Mako and Bolin's shoulders, but kept her hands balled into fists.

"Asami." Korra looked at her over the boys' heads. "Can you take them away from here?"

"What?" Bolin looked genuinely surprised and confused.

"No way!" Mako exclaimed. "You can give yourself up, but we're not leaving without you."

Korra looked at him, and the corners of her mouth turned upward the slightest bit. "I knew you wouldn't want to. That's what I love about you." She hugged him properly then, like she used to, her arms around his neck. He held her, too, one arm around her waist, another up her back. He didn't care that the Red Lotus were watching them, all that mattered was that they were together—

Then he felt the sharpness, more of a prick than a stab, of pain in his back, followed by a numbing sensation spreading outward. "Agh!" Mako pulled away enough to look at her in shock, realizing what she'd done. "What—have you—" He groaned, and then he fainted onto her. Korra was crying, hugging him even as she held the used shirshu darts in one hand.

Asami and Bolin gaped at them. "What was that for?" Bolin demanded. He looked wildly between Korra and the Red Lotus members. "Are you with _them_ now?"

"No, but I knew he would be the least willing to leave me." Korra stood on shaky legs. "You need to go."

"Korra—"

"This is all I can ask of you, for me, and for Mako. I don't want him or either of you getting hurt again on my account." She threw the darts onto the ground, so they could see she was empty-handed, before hugging them both. "I love you guys."

"We love you too," Asami assured her. Bolin was more stiff, as though his trust in her was already wavering. Maybe he was still in shock.

"Take care of Naga for me. If you see Tenzin or the Beifongs or my parents, tell them I'm sorry. Look after each other, okay?" She was all too aware that her friends had only each other for support.

"Of course we will." Asami actually managed slight smile. Korra didn't have it in her to smile back, but she squeezed the other girl's shoulder, to let her know she was grateful.

The Red Lotus actually stood back to let Asami and Bolin pass, each of them with one of Mako's arms over their shoulders. Their last glimpse of Korra was of her entering the back of the stolen truck, her arms held up in surrender. She only glanced back at them once, long enough to see their hurt and worried expressions.

* * *

Mako didn't fully regain consciousness until they were back in Zaofu. Asami and Bolin had the torturous job of explaining to him and the Beifong sisters what had happened.

"How could she do that?" Mako kept exclaiming, pacing angrily up and down the room. He wanted to punch the wall, but held back out of respect for Suyin. "Korra is a fighter. I can't believe—" He shook his head. "It hurts to think that she stopped fighting because of us."

"It shows how much she loves you, that she gave up her freedom for yours," Su said somberly.

"She stabbed me with shirshu darts!"

"That shows that she knows how much you love her," Lin said.

Mako glared at the older woman. "You think what she did was right?"

"Of course not—but I can understand why she'd do it. I know a thing or two about sacrifice." That statement ushered in a moment of silence. The teenagers were aware that Lin had risked her life and lost her bending while protecting Tenzin's family from the Equalists.

"This is completely different," Mako said. "You had resigned as the police chief, and you only had the airbenders counting on you. Korra's the Avatar, and we're not the only ones counting on her. She's too important to sacrifice herself for nobodies like us! It's—selfish!"

Nobody dared to point out the potential irony of his statement. But Asami spoke up quietly. "Would you love her if she was any different?"

Mako knew that denying or justifying how he felt about Korra was pointless. Instead he said, "This isn't about love, this is … this is about being a team. We were supposed to protect her, not the other way around."

Bolin spoke up, for the first time since he asked Mako had woken up. He had never been so quiet before. Now he said, not taking his eyes off the wall, "We're all for one, but she's one for all."

The others stared at him, slowly realizing that it was true. Team Avatar had formed with the purpose of supporting one person, the Avatar; but Korra had turned the tables by acting in her team's best interests, with complete disregard for her own.


	2. Hiding

I wrote this after seeing the Book 4 premiere, "After All These Years." This is another conjecture story, which is why I decided to add it on to "Lovely Betrayal" instead of making it a separate story. I might make more standalone pieces like this in the future, and if I do I don't want them to fill up the story list on my account, when they're so similar in their nature, likely to be disproven by upcoming events in the show. I'm actually more proud of this piece than of the previous one.

* * *

The girl usually avoided looking directly at people. So when she heard a man's footsteps approaching her, she thought it was the manager coming to deliver her money, and she didn't bother looking up as she unwrapped bandage strips from her hands. But instead of coming up to her, the man stopped a few yards away from her.

"Korra?"

She froze, her hands pausing, her breath catching. "I saw your match. Is—is it really you?" The man's voice was incredulous but hopeful.

She seemed to recover then. She shook her head, her short hair swishing back and forth, and continued to peel the bandage off. "You're mistaking me for someone else."

He continued to stare at her. "What kind of game are you playing?" He had spoken those words before, and he was certain he was speaking them to the same person as he had last time.

"Earthbending? It's been done in tournaments for generations …"

"No, I mean hiding from everyone, and spending your time fighting and losing."

"I don't know _what_ you're talking about."

Was she serious? The man started to wonder if he really was mistaken. "Maybe you're not her. Because the Korra I know would never throw a fight."

There was some indignation in her voice when she said, "You think I lost on purpose?"

"I've seen pro-benders do it. I used to collect bets on fixed games. I can tell when someone's giving up because it's easier. I just—_if_ Korra ever started competing and losing in order to make money, I wouldn't be able to understand why she'd put herself through that."

The girl was silent for a moment, but then she made a tentative suggestion, in the same ambivalent tone. "Maybe she'd do it because it's a controlled environment. People don't die in these kinds of tournaments. Not like in real battles. It's controlled chaos."

"I guess that's true." The man folded his arms. Both of them studied the dirt floor, not looking at each other. The man continued to speak, and his words could have been directed to her, or to himself, or to no one in particular. "Everyone in Republic City is really disappointed that the Avatar hasn't come back. We were all waiting and ready to welcome her, but then her father came and said she left her home six months ago, and wrote to tell him she was in Republic City. She's hiding somewhere and it doesn't make sense to me. What would be a good reason for not coming home?"

The girl shrugged to show indifference, but still offered a possible answer. "Maybe she doesn't feel confident going back to her job."

"That's ridiculous. She's fought and won more battles than anyone else in the world. Even people who don't know her say she might be the best Avatar that's ever lived."

"Maybe she just doesn't want that job anymore. Normal people can change jobs any time they want, but the Avatar pretty much has their career laid out for them. Except there's still no certainty about it. There probably isn't a less predictable job in the world."

"I … never thought about it that way."

There was a pause, another moment of wondering how much one could venture to say. The girl pressed her now bare hands against the wooden bench. "Suppose you did find her. What would you say to her?"

"I'd tell her the truth. That her friends miss her. That her father and her teacher are worried sick about her. And that the world still needs her."

"Does it, though? I heard the budding Air Nation has been doing her job for her."

He was taken aback. "Is that what's wrong? You don't feel like you're _needed_?"

"I never said I was her!" She couldn't stop herself from retorting. The boy was satisfied, seeing an angry reaction; that meant she was taking the conversation personally. But then she resumed her calm, detached tone. "We were talking hypothetically."

The man shook his head, exasperated. "I shouldn't have to argue that the world still needs the Avatar. Or that her friends still need Korra. We haven't given up on her. And she shouldn't give up on us."

There was silence, and the man finally accepted that the girl was not going to admit anything. Maybe he was wrong, and he had just been spilling his anxiety out to a stranger. He sighed. "I'm sorry to bother you. It's clear you want to be left alone." He started to walk away, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

It wasn't until his back was turned that the girl lifted her head to look at him. "Mako."

The man stopped, startled, almost afraid to hope. He turned his head sideways, glancing over his shoulder, but not daring to look at her head-on.

"I hope the Avatar can be as dedicated as you are."

He was silent for a moment, before answering. "I once called her the most loyal person I know. I hope I was right."

She didn't answer.

He walked away, hoping that, sooner or later, she would try to follow.


End file.
